AAC to text: transcribe a bare AAC audio file
A .aac file is raw AAC audio, often sound taken out of a video or saved by a call or voice recorder app. Upload it untouched and get every word back with speaker labels and times, ready to correct and download as TXT, Word or PDF.
Transcribe an AAC
Free: 30 min a month, no card. Your file stays in this browser until you sign up. Compare plans
- About an hour of audio in about two minutes
- Every download, TXT and Word included, on Free as well
An AAC recording, turned into text
Here is a real recording, NASA's Apollo 11 landing, transcribed by PrismaScribe and laid out the way the Word download prints it: each name above its words, a time before each line. Sound pulled from a clip or a saved call comes back in this same shape, and the TXT download holds these lines as plain text.
Apollo 11 landing
Neil Armstrong
[0:00] Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
CAPCOM, Charlie Duke
[0:06] Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:08,478CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang...
- 300:00:08,478 to 00:00:12,494Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue.
- 400:00:12,494 to 00:00:14,720We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
Apollo 11 landing.vtt
WEBVTT
- 100:00:00.500 to 00:00:05.980Neil Armstrong: Houston, uh, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
- 200:00:06.640 to 00:00:11.301CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: Roger, Twang... Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys
- 300:00:11.301 to 00:00:14.720CAPCOM, Charlie Duke: about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. [beeping]
What an AAC transcript is for
A .aac is often sound lifted from somewhere else: a video, a call, a broadcast. As text, it is easy to work with.
- Quotes from a video's soundtrack. Pull the exact words out of a clip's sound without scrubbing back and forth, with the time each one was said.
- What was said on a recorded call. Read back what was agreed on a call your recorder app kept as AAC, each turn under the person who spoke.
- A radio segment you can search. Turn a captured interview or programme into text you can search, cite and file away.
- An editable Word (DOCX) copy. Download the AAC's transcript as a Word (DOCX) file to edit, comment on and print, or as a PDF to pass on unchanged.
- Summaries and notes from it. Make a summary, notes or a to-do list from the transcript right in your dashboard.
- The same audio as an M4A. Have that sound wrapped as an .m4a instead? It goes in just as easily: see M4A to text.
How to convert AAC to text
The .aac goes in untouched, with nothing to convert beforehand.
1 Get the .aac onto your device
Save it from the recorder app, from the editor you extracted it with or from the email it arrived in. The PrismaScribe iPhone app can also pick an AAC straight from Files.
2 Upload and start
Add one AAC or several from a browser on a computer or a phone, choose the spoken language or leave detection on, and enter how many people talk if you know.
3 Check it, then take it away
Click a word to hear that moment and correct it, give the speakers their names, then download TXT, Word (DOCX), PDF or another format, or copy the text.
30 min of free transcription every month, with no card.
The AAC's words in another language
Translate
Translate the transcript of your AAC into any of 99+ languages, read the result in your dashboard, or save it as TXT, SRT or VTT.
- A translated SRT or VTT holds on to each line's timing.
- Free includes 20,000 characters of translation every month.
More
Copy all
Export
- TXT
- SRT, selected
- VTT
Apollo 11 landing_es.srt
- 100:00:00,500 to 00:00:05,980Houston, eh, aquí Base Tranquilidad. El Águila ha aterrizado.
- 200:00:06,640 to 00:00:14,720Recibido, Tranq... Tranquilidad. Los copiamos en tierra. Tenían a un montón de tipos a punto de ponerse azules. Volvemos a respirar. Muchas gracias. [pitidos]
AAC in, text out
What a .aac file holds, where yours most likely came from, and what you take away.
AAC, the file you upload
AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding, a lossy audio codec that MPEG standardised in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 as a successor to MP3. The same codec sits inside most .m4a files and carries the sound of most .mp4 videos. A .aac file is usually the bare AAC stream (ADTS), with no MP4 wrapper around it. For the wrapped kind, see M4A to text.
- What it is
- Advanced Audio Coding, a lossy codec standardised by MPEG
- Wrapper
- Usually none: a bare ADTS stream, unlike an M4A or an MP4
- Often from
- Sound pulled from a video, recorder and call apps, captured radio or streams
- Longest AAC
- 8 hr 20 min on Pro; 5 hr on Starter and Premium; 15 min on Free
MPEG's AAC standard (MPEG-2 Part 7, MPEG-4 Part 3); the uploader's list of accepted files.
TXT and Word, what you download
The TXT file opens with a short header, the recording's name, language, length and date, then runs the transcript, with speaker names and [m:ss] times if you keep them. Word (DOCX) sets out the same text as a document to edit and print.
- Your choice
- Names and times, each one on or off
- Also as
- PDF, Markdown, SRT and VTT
- Languages
- 99+, each written in its own script
- Your fixes
- Carried into every download
Each text format in the web app's export window comes with these options.
What it doesn't do
Worth knowing before you upload an AAC.
- No reaching into recorder apps. PrismaScribe can't open a call recorder or voice recorder app for you. Export the AAC from it as a file first.
- No shrinking an oversized AAC. An AAC over your plan's file size is turned away, not made smaller. Split it, or save a smaller copy, before you upload.
- No cloud storage links. A link to a file in iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox won't import. Download the AAC and upload the file.
- PDF for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters. An AAC in any other script downloads as TXT, Word, Markdown, SRT or VTT instead.
Good to know
- Background noise removal and custom vocabulary are on a paid plan, using 2× and 1.25× the minutes.
- On Free: 30 min each month, at most 15 min in a day, and one AAC at a time.
- Upload an AAC longer than 15 min through the website on Free and its first 15 min is transcribed; the iPhone app refuses such a file.
- Top-up hours lift Free's daily and per-file time limits, while its 500 MB file size stays as it is.
Plans
Each plan's monthly and yearly price, side by side; the pricing page compares everything in full.
30 min a month, files up to 15 min
- Monthly
- $0
- Yearly
- $0
5 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $7 a month
- Yearly
- $52 a year, Save 38%$4.33 a month, billed once a year
20 hr a month, files up to 5 hr
- Monthly
- $20 a month
- Yearly
- $150 a year, Save 38%$12.50 a month, billed once a year
40 hr a month, files up to 8 hr 20 min
- Monthly
- $40 a month
- Yearly
- $300 a year, Save 38%$25 a month, billed once a year
Your audio stays private
- Encrypted on its way to us and in storage; only you and whoever you share it with can open it.
- Not used to train AI models, at any point.
- Yours to keep until you delete it.
AAC to text FAQ
Something we haven't answered? Write to hello@prismascribe.ai.
How do I turn an AAC file into text?
Sign up free, upload the .aac and start it, choosing the language or letting it be detected. An email lets you know when the transcript is ready in your dashboard, so you can close the page; then read it, fix any word with a click, and copy or download it.
What is an .aac file?
Audio in Advanced Audio Coding, the lossy codec MPEG standardised as a successor to MP3, kept as a bare stream. The same audio wrapped in an MP4 container is an M4A, which is why the two often behave alike.
Where do .aac files come from?
Often from sound taken out of a video without re-encoding, from some voice recorder and call recording apps, or from captures of radio and online streams. Whichever made yours, it uploads the same way.
Should I convert my AAC to MP3 or M4A first?
There's no need. A .aac uploads as it is, on the website and in the iPhone app, and converting would only add a step. If you have an M4A of the same audio, that works too: M4A to text.
Is transcribing an AAC free?
Yes, on Free, with no card: 30 min a month, up to 15 min a day, for files up to 15 min and 500 MB, one at a time, with every download. For longer AAC files, see the plans or buy top-up hours that never expire.
How long can the AAC be?
Free takes up to 15 min and 500 MB; Starter and Premium up to 5 hr and 2 GB; Pro up to 8 hr 20 min and 5 GB. Upload a longer AAC on Free through the website and its first 15 min is transcribed.
Can I get the AAC transcript as a Word file?
Yes. Word (DOCX) sits beside TXT, PDF, Markdown, SRT and VTT in the downloads, and you decide whether speaker names and timestamps appear. For languages written outside Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters, take Word or TXT rather than PDF.
Does it tell the speakers apart?
Yes, on every plan, for up to 32 speakers, labelled Speaker 1, Speaker 2 and onwards. Rename one once and the whole transcript follows. How speaker identification works.
Which languages can an AAC be in?
Any of 99+, picked by you or detected. To read it in another language, translate the transcript into any of 99+ languages. Translate audio.
More formats, more text
Text from other audio and video files, plus the page for every format.
Read the AAC instead of playing it again.
30 min of free transcription every month, with no card.
One AAC in.
Text you can use out.